While travelling to London with Gary, Richard (now Radhanath Swami) was struck by the photograph of an old man on the back cover of a pamphlet that he had got at Randall’s island. He looked on at the effulgent form of this man whose smile radiated peace. Richard concluded that if any person in this creation has spiritual bliss, it is this person. Little did he know then that a year later and a thousand miles across, this man was to become Richard’s guru. Meanwhile at London Richard makes a shocking discovery that Jimmy Hendrix, the icon for flower generation, succumbs to an overdose of sleeping pills and dies a miserable death. The contrast of spiritual bliss and misery of material excesses couldn’t have been more striking for the young and impressionable Richard. His disillusionment with the counterculture grew; he now saw through the façade of the progressive ‘ideals’ of his generation which was distracted from spiritual pursuits and instead sought material pleasures. Richard realized the rebellion of most of the youth was just for the sake of it and lacked a meaningful goal.

Radhanath Swami says the reason people in this world are miserable despite having an overabundance of pleasures is they are seeking to gratify the self rather than serve the Supreme Lord. Radhanath Swami says this endeavor is unnatural for a living entity. The propensity to serve is natural; however when we seek to gratify the self rather than serve God and God’s children, our attempt is akin to watering the branches and twigs of a tree, rather than the root of the tree. Radhanath Swami is emphatic as he says, “Not only human beings but all living entities are parts and parcels of God. The parts are meant for serving the whole, just as the legs, hands, fingers and ears are meant for serving the total body. We living entities, being parts and parcels of God, are duty bound to serve Him.” Radhanath Swami reveals that forgetting God, humans have created unlimited subject matter for service. All of it is keeping them dissatisfied, because it misses the essence.

It’s an interesting analysis offered by Radhanath Swami. He discusses in his talks that actually our position is that we are always rendering service to someone, either to our family, country or society. If we have no one to serve, sometimes we keep a pet cat or dog and render service to it. All these factors prove that we are constitutionally meant to render service, yet in spite of serving to our best capacity, we are not satisfied. Nor is the person to whom we are rendering that service satisfied. On the material platform, everyone is frustrated. The reason for this is that the service which is being rendered is not properly directed. Therefore Radhanath Swami implores all to serve the root of all existence, God.

Radhanath Swami discovered the old man to be spiritually blissful, whereas Jimmy had been miserable. The difference- the former was connected to God and thus ‘watering the root’. The latter on the other hand was constantly seeking his own pleasures, in a vain attempt to ‘water the leaves and twigs’.

88 Comments

True! Because we humans are focussing on so many wrong things which are prioritised as centers of our life. We are thus facing so many problems in our life. If we just focus on what great pesoanlities lilke Radhanath Swami have advised us we could have lived a much better life than present

External appearances can be deceptive. We cannot make out the internal feelings of a person merely by superficial judgement based on facial features or gestures. Internal contentment is demonstrated by our reactions to provocative situations.

Its very important to know the root cause from wher we have come from. As HH Radhanath Swami explained very nicely, if we simply understand that we all are parts and parcels of God and our eternal duty is to serve Him then there will be no anxiety in our lives.

These are the important principles taught by HH Radhanath Swami, with deep realisation and wisdom. We will not be understanding and fathom this principle to water the root, the God and we will be happy. It needs patience, just like when we water the root, the tree takes time to give fruits.

A perfect analysis is given herein about service and serving nature of a living entity by Radhanath Swami.It is true that naturaly we are duty bound to serve someone in this form or that.But if it is not directed towards the root thait is God then frustation out service is guranted.Thank you Radhanath Swamiji for enlightening us.

Radhanath Swami was wise enough to realise the real facts of life and pursue the path towards seeking the Absolute Truth. Not many can discreminate between what is that we a craving for and what do we truly need.

By watering the root, the whole tree is nourished. Similarly, by rendering devotional service one can be in a state of bliss since it is the process recommended for human beings in the scriptures.All glories to H.H Radhanath Swami Maharaj.

Yes, it is only by watering the root of a tree that the whole tree is nourished. There is no other way. In a similar way we must direct our service unto the supreme lord then we will experience complete satisfaction.

Truly, Every human being is meant to serve but we wrongly identify the object of our service..Radhanath Swami nicely points out that “the reason people in this world are miserable despite having an overabundance of pleasures is they are seeking to gratify the self rather than serve the Supreme Lord”..A very nice & instructive article

Maharaj made a clear distinction between how to derive real pleasure by serving Lord and what is the reason of our unhappiness inspite of all luxuries at our disposal because we are gratifying our self.

Leave a Reply

Buy Journey Home By Radhanath Swami

Table of Contents

I Journey to the East
II Mother India
III Himalayan Pilgrimage
IV Forest of Grace

Buy From: Tulsibooks Store Or Amazon

The Journey Home Book

‘The Journey Home - Autobiography of an American Swami’ Book is an engaging, humorous and heart-warming account of a young nineteen year old’s quest for spiritual enlightenment. The reader follows Richard Slavin (Now Radhanath Swami) from the suburbs of Chicago to the caves of Himalayas as he goes through a variety of exciting adventures; some near-death encounters and many spiritual experiences. Regular reading of this all-time classic has helped me draw spiritual lessons and seek constant inspiration in my own spiritual journey.

Founder-acharya of the International Society For Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
Teachings of Srila Prabhupada can be found at prabhupadavani.org.

Radhanath Swami

“Go to India” a sweet but commanding voice; spoke up in the heart of young Richard (later Radhanath Swami) who was immersed in meditation, his search for meaning in life has brought him to the Isle of Crete. Today he was ordered to go to India. Born and raised in the middle class suburbs of Chicago, Radhanath swami grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s era when popular musicians protested war, prejudice and social injustice. Radhanath swami would listen to these songs again and again, but their lyrics referring to God stirred his soul. Peter, Paul and Mary- the folk trio from Greenswich village sang in their debut album
“Early in the morning, about the break of day
I ask the Lord, to help me find my way”
This simple prayer was to guide Radhanath swami in the coming years of his life........more about radhanath swamiTeachings of Radhanath Swami can be found at radhanathswami.info. Radhanath Swami travels around the world and frequently lectures throughout the United States and Europe. He is based at Radha Gopinath Temple in Mumbai, India.

Recent Comments

Laxmikanth on Power Of Association
Hearing hare krishna maha mantra , from yamuna and ganges, human beings are sand sometimes cool and ...